Origin

A medley was originally a fight, and is the same word as melee (mid 16th century), ‘a confused fight or scuffle’. The source is French, and goes back to Latin misculare ‘to mix’, the source of mix ( see mash) and related to meddle (Middle English). The mixing and mingling of combatants in hand-to-hand fighting led to medley having a variety of uses that involve a mixture of parts. It was applied to a collection of songs or tunes performed as a continuous piece in the 17th century, and the swimming event with each part involving a different stroke appeared in the 1920s.